Merchant Retention Case Study: A top merchant acquirer client improved a key function in retention and saw significant upsides to retention rates, margins, and operational efficiencies.

1. M.S.B.S. LLC d/b/a ePay Consulting Services
www.epayconsulting.com
Sherry@epayconsulting.com
516.425.1085
Copyright ©2015. All Rights Reserved. Merchant Smart Business Solutions, LLC pg. 1
ePay Consulting Case Study: RETENTION OPTIMIZATION
Project Overview
The retention operation’s journey began with a framework geared towards improving overall
retention effectiveness. ePay Consulting Services was initially engaged by the executive
management team to provide a high-level assessment and actionable recommendations. Our
client was committed to the journey and believed in the benefits of optimization. We were
further engaged to partner on the implementation of the proposed “quick-wins.”
Our retention optimization framework consisted of a 4 step process:
Business Issue
The electronic payments industry is under constant change driven by customer behavior, omni-
commerce, innovation, regulation and more. And while many of these changes
presents opportunities, it also adds business challenges. In a survey conducted by ePay
Consulting Services of major Acquirers and ISOs focused on attrition, the most commonly cited
business challenge was a need for retention operational improvements.
Our client, a top 5 US payment processor and merchant acquirer, was experiencing
increasing customer attrition and margin compression due to competitive pressures. The head
of merchant services recognized that improvements in merchant retention is a critical strategic
priority. The business desired a more strategic approach to its inbound and outbound retention
efforts in order to help curb its growing attrition problem and improve margins organically.

2. M.S.B.S. LLC d/b/a ePay Consulting Services
www.epayconsulting.com
Sherry@epayconsulting.com
516.425.1085
Copyright ©2015. All Rights Reserved. Merchant Smart Business Solutions, LLC pg. 2
1. Workshop
We kicked-off the project with an engaging workshop including the project sponsors, key
stakeholders, and the core project team to solidify scope, desired outcome, and
formulate a hypotheses driven analysis vis-à-vis existing challenges and pain
points. The output identified high-level retention improvements and cost savings
opportunities with a priority to focus on high impact areas.
2. Deep-Dive Assessment
We focused the deep-dive assessment on the critical functions within retention and
evaluated cross-functional dependencies. The root-cause analysis revealed several
operational gaps, technology, and data challenges impacting retention’s performance.
3. Opportunity Identification
The analysis helped us to identify opportunities to improve retention's operating model,
performance metrics, processes, and establish best practices, such as:
 Define retention’s scope and responsibilities
 Streamline critical activities for inbound and outbound campaigns
 Strategize queue and merchant offers based on criteria (e.g., value, risk)
 Enable retention reps with capabilities to offer competitive pricing in a single call
 Streamline merchant communication and ensure consistency across the
organization (e.g., Retention, RMs, Customer Service, Finance, Billing)
 Establish results tracking and reporting to accurately measure retention
effectiveness
4. Implementation
We partnered with our client to develop and launch a “one-stop shop” tool customized
for retaining merchants at competitive offers. The tool enables reps with key business
insights and capabilities to better handle inbound and outbound cases without the time
consuming hunt for information. Reps can now effectively assess and propose a
competitive offer to the merchant during the first call in just a few minutes. Additionally,
the tool allows retention reps to fully own and manage core retention functions creating
independence from other groups; as well as provides critical business indicators and
thresholds to manage exceptions and sustain profitability at improved levels.
Results By The Numbers
After 5 months from deployment, the business saw notable increases in retention rates with
less “give-backs” or reduced margin compression than previous cases. Additionally, the
business saw a decline in overall attrition revenue. There were also qualitative benefits,
such as, improved customer experience, quicker and more effective employee training, and
employee enthusiasm.
• 50% increase in retention goals
• 42% more accounts saved compared to prior period
• 6% reduction in average margin compression rates
• 7x retention operational improvement
• 1.8% drop in overall revenue attrition influenced by a combination of business
improvements including the new retention solutions

3. M.S.B.S. LLC d/b/a ePay Consulting Services
www.epayconsulting.com
Sherry@epayconsulting.com
516.425.1085
Copyright ©2015. All Rights Reserved. Merchant Smart Business Solutions, LLC pg. 3
Client’s Feedback
- "More accounts saved”
- “7x more rate reviews completed”
- “Improved productivity with our existing staff"
- "Tool has become a center of excellence for training new staff in retention, we no longer rely
on several sources and systems which has significantly reduced our training needs and time
to get new hires up to speed"
- "Now we can compete with competitors more effectively by being able to offer our merchant
the best pricing at the time of the call… we no longer have to rely on other groups to do the
crunching and have 3-4 follow-up calls with the merchant over 2-3 days"
About ePay Consulting Services
ePay Consulting Services provides advisory services to the industry’s leading players in
payment processing, acquiring, issuing, major card networks, and merchants. We are focused
on solving critical business issues for payment companies and service providers by delivering
winning strategies and operational improvements.
We’re committed to serve as a thought leader in cards and payments and have published works
related to acquisition, retention, new products and innovation, M&A, as well as active members
of NYPAY, a non-profit local payments thought leadership community.
Specialty Competencies:
• Merchant Acquiring Strategy and Optimization
• Product Development / Go-To- Market Strategies
• Portfolio Management / Merchant Retention
• Merger and Acquisition Advisory / Market Analysis
Email us to request your free copy of our market study, Merchant Acquiring: Leading Practices In Retention
Management.
Find more information on case studies and primary market research by visiting us on the web:
www.epayconsulting.com, contact Sherry at sherry@epayconsulting.com or by phone 516-425-1085